Copious rainfall over the past month may present a rosy picture of the State. But hidden behind the curtain of rain is the disconcerting truth: drought in its myriad forms still looms ahead.
While the rainfall figures of the State may be considered to be “normal” — perhaps the best in the past four years — hydrological deficiency and the agricultural crisis is still a reality.
Hydrological shortfall
For example, the Cauvery catchment basin, where the four major reservoirs are situated, are seeing water levels at 59.67 TMC or 77% above the levels recorded during the same period last year. Add to that the fact that south interior Karnataka has seen rainfall of an excess of 27%. However, hydrologically speaking, the reservoirs are seeing a shortage of nearly 40% in inflows.
Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) uses data over 42 years in the reservoirs of Harangi, Kabini, KRS and Hemavati to tabulate inflows. On an average, the reservoirs see 255 TMC of inflows in the monsoons, of which about 104 TMC is stored in the reservoirs, while the rest flows into the rivers, filling up lakes or is used for agriculture.
Till September-end, just 152 TMC entered the reservoirs. During the drought year in 2016, the inflow was 133TMC. “The deficient rainfall in June and July, which contribute the most to water flowing into reservoirs, had failed this time around. While inflows to reservoirs did pick up in August and September, it continues to be low... Inflows depend on a complex variety of factors, including intensity of rainfall and duration, and so increased rainfall may not mean a proportional increase in inflows,” said K. Srinivas Reddy, director, KSNDMC.
Moreover, it must be recalled that reservoir levels were maintained primarily as the State government decided not to release water for agriculture — something that would have been done if the inflows had reached normal levels.
Sources in the State government said as much as 60 TMC was released to Tamil Nadu on the basis of formulae for distress, rather than 130 TMC to be released for a normal year by September-end.
State of agriculture
Data till the last week of September shows that despite the uptake in rain, the area sown was 9.3 lakh hectares less than the corresponding period in 2016. Officials further pointed out that at least 8 lakh hectares were believed to have been lost in June and July owing to deficient rain there. Cereals, in particular paddy cultivation, was the worst hit, shows a report on the state of agriculture till September 23.
